"Machines"

We put together a couple of "machines" we gave the boys for their birthdays. Conner made a dart launcher and Ben made a catapult.

Thank You!

Thanks to Nana and Gramps for taking good care of our boys this last week and thank you for a great weekend!

July Birthdays!

The afternoon brought some fun in the water outside! So much fun to watch all of these cousins play together!

After a great dinner, it was time for Peggy, Cari, Josh, Nana, and Gramps to open some presents! Happy Birthday to everyone!!!

Morning at the Museum...

On Saturday morning, the kids all wanted to go to the Children's Museum!

To Bettendorf...

Today we went to Bettendorf to not only retrieve our sons, but to spend the weekend celebrating all of the July birthdays! We enjoyed sitting outside this evening. The boys thought they would try to climb the tree... they couldn't quite make it!

While the Boys are Away...

While the boys are still at Nana and Gramps' house, Nick and I did a little fishing by ourselves today! This was our only catch, but it was a great way to spend the day together! We have enjoyed the time to go out for dinner and see a movie and just hang out together while the little boys have been gone!

Shark Week...

Ben and Conner are loving Shark Week, so they have been sitting with their Lego sharks while they watch the shows on TV! Here, they are waiting for Nana and Gramps to come get them! The boys will be spending the next several days in Bettendorf!

Mini Trail...

Mama sent some pictures of the boys on the mini trail! One of their favorite things to do at Mama and Papa's house!

While the boys were having fun in Conrad, Nick and I got to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie that we have been waiting to go see!

Weekend with Mama and Papa!

Ben and Conner get to spend a few days with Mama and Papa! They each wrote me a note before we left to go meet Mama! It was so sweet!

Bowling...

Nick had the day off work and we were trying to find something to do today. It is very hot and humid, so we were looking at movies, but the boys insisted that we go bowling... I don't know why, but these two love to bowl! So, we headed to the bowling alley and played a couple of games. Conner was up first, then Ben. After bowling, we stopped to have ice cream and Conner started fiddling with one of his teeth, telling us that he had another loose one. We told him to leave it for now, but as soon as we got home, Conner headed to the bathroom saying that he had to get that thing out! A minute later (with blood running down his mouth, ewww...) he came out with his tooth in his hand pronouncing that he had lost another tooth!

Lego Day...

Today is our Lego day! We will be at the table putting together our latest Lego sets!!! The boys surprised me and wanted to do most of it themselves. They did a fabulous job following all of the directions and I was very impressed!

Last Summer Baseball Game...

The boys had their last baseball game this afternoon! It was a playoff game, and though it was a close game, the Cubs lost. They got medals after the game! They loved that part... they have loved baseball and learned so much this season, that they decided they wanted to play some more, so they will play a 4 week season in August so they can keep playing baseball!

Birthday Party!

The day of the big birthday party has arrived!!! And just because our boys love to start their days early, Conner managed to pull out a loose tooth around 3:00 this morning! (He did go back to bed!)

The boys are ready for the party to start and their guests to arrive! They talked to a woman at our resort in Florida about how it was their birthday in July and they managed to talk her into giving them a Birthday pin from Disney to wear today, so we dug those out this morning! When everyone started arriving, the kids all had some time to play while we got lunch going! Hand battered chicken fingers, shrimp poppers, macaroni and cheese, barbeque meatballs, Mickey fruit, Mickey cheese, Mickey pretzel bites, and Mickey cookies were on the menu! The boys couldn't wait to show everyone our pictures from Disney World! During lunch, ironically, Ben came running in with a tooth in his hand! He had lost a tooth while he was eating his lunch! The Tooth Fairy will have to collect two teeth tonight from the Hedlund household!

After lunch, it was time for presents! First we had to watch the 10th birthday movie! Then, it was time for presents...

Time for cake and ice cream! Conner wanted white cake with one Disney picture and Ben wanted chocolate cake with another picture from Disney on it!

After Ben and Conner each blew out their ten candles and ate their cake, it was time to take the party to the backyard for some swimming and water balloons!

Ben and Conner had a wonderful 10th birthday party! Thank you to everyone for coming! I still can't believe our boys are 10 years old!!!